Need to include emergency medicine, trauma care in undergraduate curriculum: Venkaiah Naidu

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday said there was a need to include emergency medicine and trauma care in the curriculum of undergraduate courses.

Speaking at the 10th Asian Conference on Emergency Medicine here, Naidu highlighted the importance of emergency medical care.

"Emergency care and emergency medicine played a vital role in the healthcare system. The initial management and stabilisation of a patient in need of emergency care is truly a speciality on its own and requires intensive training and resources. Very often the availability of emergency care makes the difference between life and death," he said.

Stating that medical students must be trained to deal with the whole gamut of situations relating to emergency medicine, Naidu said that he was glad that the government has made it mandatory for all medical college hospitals to have full-fledged Emergency Departments by 2022 with an aim to improve trauma care.

"We need to develop programmes and manuals to train citizens in emergency first-aid procedures such as Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) as it would help in saving a life while waiting for emergency services.

"There is an urgent need to attach high priority to emergency medicine and services in India. We have to invest in providing timely and high-quality emergency health services in the country," he said.

He also said that rural India should also receive these services as it is an important aspect of the development of the country.

"In a country like India where half the population lives in villages it is essential to have at least one well structured emergency service provider to be attached to every village. Deaths due to accidents are continuously growing, we need more people trained in emergency treatment so that we can save lives.